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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26363206">i swear that we can make it anywhere.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettything_uglylie/pseuds/Prettything_uglylie'>Prettything_uglylie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Andy | Andromache of Scythia Regains Immortality, BAMF Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Bisexual Nile Freeman, Bonding, Bottom Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Immortal Wives Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, M/M, Minor Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Nile Freeman, Nile Freeman &amp; Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Friendship, Nile Freeman-centric, Post-Canon, Soft Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Training</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:20:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,486</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26363206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettything_uglylie/pseuds/Prettything_uglylie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile Freeman begins to live her life as an immortal warrior but she has to deal with four grown idiots as well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman/Original Male Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. patching wounds.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey, what's up! I hope you like this!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After the battle, they bind each other back together. With Merrick dead in the hood of his expensive car, they know that it is only a matter of time before everything is traced back to them - the death, the decay, the bodies left behind are all theirs. </p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so here's a small fic set after the movie but not entirely in compliance to everything so I hope you like this!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>After the battle, they bind each other back together. With Merrick dead in the hood of his expensive car, they know that it is only a matter of time before everything is traced back to them - the death, the decay, the bodies left behind are all theirs. </p><p>But Nile doesn't carry that same dread feeling in her stomach that she has with a lot of her other kills - no, this feels justified, feels like a good fight that leaves her knuckles bloodied and her breath uneven but her pulse loud in her ears. She chases that feeling too rarely. </p><p>The others don't seem to feel the same. They all pack into the car, Nicky nodding Booker into the driver's seat and pats her arm gently to make her sit in the passenger seat before he and Joe get into the backseat, bringing Andy with them - it's in moments like this that she realizes just how old they are, how easy they fall into routines they've lived with each other in for centuries now. She had never noticed how much they lean on each other, functioning like a well-oiled machine but maybe that's why it works so well for them. Maybe that's why Booker's betrayal is still loud in the air around them. </p><p>Booker glances at her nervous, then into the rearview mirror even more nervous and his hands tighten periodically on the steering wheel - where Joe's gaze catches it at the same time hers does, he has none of the reassurance that Nile wishes to give Booker. He just looks angry. </p><p>Andy peels her shirt over her head, the material clinging to her uncomfortably and she hisses where it sticks, caught in her wound. Nicky's hiss is not from pain but Nile is also sure it is. </p><p>"Looks like hell." Joe confirms and it makes Nile flinch. She's confused for a moment, reminded too many times of boys in her high school being gross or perverted about a woman's body but then when she glances in the mirror, she sees Andy shirtless other than her bra, straddling Joe's lap as he holds both her hands and Nicky patches her up.</p><p>Nicky's fingers are diligent, cleaning the wound and then preparing the bit of gauze they found in the car's First Aid kit (something she herself had marked down as lucky and laughed at a bit, joined by Joe's chuckling rumble that had made her feel a little warmer) to dress it properly. He notices pieces on the cloth that are prodding and would irritate the wound further and when he glances up, she knows he sees her looking. He sees her looking at him through the rearview and with steady blue eyes that feel old in their nature - they can all pass as current people but Nicky's eyes feel ancient. It scares her just as much as it reassures her that all of this is real. </p><p>She lets her eyes flicker to Booker and she can smell the tension in the air with them all, can't imagine the history and the pain in his betrayal but he knows the regret in the blond man's eyes is genuine - it's too hurt not to be, but she doesn't blame them for not forgiving him. </p><p>She doesn't blame them because they all look too tired to even think let alone to deal with the emotions of the betrayal. She leans against the window, feeling the tiredness creep into her body and her eyelids get heavy. </p><p>She falls asleep and for the first time in a while, Nile strangely does not dream of Quynh. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Nicky is shaking her awake by the time that her eyes peel open. His smile is softer than the window she had leaned against as she slept and if she could cushion herself into the bed made in the softness of his nature, she would sleep there forever. One of his slender, Sniper-trained hands is curled in the sleeve of her bomber jacket and his light blue eyes are reassuring. </p><p>"Wake up, Nile. We're home." His breath smells like gunpowder and blood - she remembers suddenly of Joe snapping Keane's neck against the floor after saying, <em>you shot Nicky. You shouldn't have done that </em>but she hadn't realized it had been in the head. </p><p><em>Home</em>, it's a <em>home</em>. </p><p>Maybe, it's <em>their</em> home. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After she steps out of the car, Nicky's hand reassuring on his shoulder and walking into the safehouse, Nicky and Joe disappear upstairs to a bedroom with a bathroom attached on-suite according to the sounds of the shower she hears running and Booker takes to kneeling before Andy on the floor, patching up a few of her wounds better than they could in the bumpy course of the road. The image though, beats her over the head of Booker, seeking forgiveness for his betrayal, on his knees before Andy, who has been worshipped as a God before.</p><p>It feels bizarrely intimate. She glances away. </p><p>"Nile," Booker calls out to her and when she looks to meet his eyes, he won't meet hers, "Can you get a towel from the bathroom?" </p><p>"Sure." She agrees grateful for a mission and something to do to keep her mind busy. "Where's the bathroom?" </p><p>Booker and Andy glance at each other, his eyes only apparently willing to meet hers but their smirks are not hidden. Booker's voice is a little more lavish when he says, "Upstairs. You saw where Nicky and Joe went?" </p><p>She stops in her step as the weird feeling churns her stomach, "Yeah," she breathes out, "Yeah I did." </p><p>"There." Andy agrees and she goes to protest but swallows that feeling and hopes as she heads up the stairs - there's probably only one of them in the shower and she'll ask the other to go grab a towel and they'll do that as to not create any weird situations. </p><p>This hope, however, is demolished when she reaches the top of the flight of stairs and opens the door with a quiet knock and sees the bed empty, undisturbed. </p><p><em>Fuck. </em>She curses to herself before running a hand over her face and calling out, "Nicky? Joe?" </p><p>"In here." Joe's voice shouts back from the watery shower and she cringes again before Joe calls out again, "What's up?" </p><p>"Just need a towel." Nile aims for casual as she says but can hear it miss by a mile and land somewhere near freaking out and nervous. </p><p>"Come on in!" He invites and her eyes widen, wondering if this is some sort of trap for her but thinking over the past week - <em>week</em>, it's only been a <em>week</em> since she had her throat slit in Afghanistan - and everything they've been through together, she can't see why they would want to harm her in any way. </p><p>Sighing and taking a leap of faith off the basis of both Joe and Nicky being kind people, she opens the bathroom door and - <em>oh</em> <em>fuck</em>. </p><p>While if not built exactly beside the door, she could have lost her two comrades in the heat-induced steam of the room but with it where it is, she has a perfect view when she stumbles in. Nicky, with his long legs wrapped around Joe's waist, lifted against the wall as Joe takes thrusts inside of him in a rhythmic beat, one that makes Nicky's eyelids flutter. They're close enough she can't see the - uh, ahem, <em>private</em> <em>parts</em> - of either of her friends but she puts the puzzle together easily and knows what they're doing even easier. </p><p>Perhaps it's comfort sex for them. After the lab, she wouldn't doubt if either of them needs it. </p><p>His eyelids flicker open and through thick gasps, Nicky guides her, "Bottom shelf on the left. Should be a few." </p><p>The word thanks dies on her tongue so she just raises the towel in gratitude and he nods where Joe smirks into his collarbone and brandishes him with hickeys that disappear quickly after. </p><p>After leaving the room, she leans against the bedroom door and breathes heavily as her heart races: <em>do immortal people have no shame? </em></p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After giving the towel to Booker who had said <em>thanks </em>to who knows? make fun of her not being able to earlier, she stands there flustered before asking, "Have either of you ever walked in on Joe and Nicky...um -?" </p><p>"Having sex?" Andy finishes her question and after she nods, both Booker and Andy break out in friendly laughter before Andy recounts, "The time in Rome." </p><p>"Our kitchen in Maine." Booker adds tiredly but amused. </p><p>Andy shrugs, "The main bedroom of Portugal."</p><p>"One of Canada's closets." </p><p>They share a look before seeming to agree, "Malta." </p><p>She doesn't ask - she doesn't want to know anymore.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Her sleep is difficult to come to that night, waiting for the alluring comfort of them being around her like her first night but they've all filed off to different rooms, each with their own intention - while Booker had a bottle clasped in his hand and Andy patted her on the back before she went into her room, Nicky and Joe had not appeared from their room since they got there, something she was grateful for, considering she doesn't know how to look either of them in the eyes. </p><p>When she falls asleep after a few hours of tossing and turning, she dreams of Quynh but not of the water. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hey, yelling at me in the comments is appreciated lol</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. morning times.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nile doesn't know what to expect with a normal morning with the Old Guard but she's also rapidly learning that there is no normal with them.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey there! this chapter was brought to you by My Friend And I Discussing How Nicky's Accent Sounds Thicker When He Was Tired In That One Scene which devolved into Nicky Only Speaking Italian In The Morning headcanons. <br/>hope you like them!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>So, see - Nile has known the group for roughly a week, none of this week that she's known them, has she had a normal morning with them. The closest they have ever had to a morning perfect without anything going wrong like a kidnapping or a death, was the night she dreamt of Quynh and they told her the story of her, but then Nicky and Joe had been kidnapped so she doesn't know what to expect walking downstairs that morning. </p>
<p>She almost expects gunfire. </p>
<p>There is no gunfire when she hops down the narrow staircase and instead, at a crickety table generous to call a dining room table, Nicky and Andy sit across from each other, not talking but not uncomfortable in their silence. She wonders how long you have to know a person before you can work this seamlessly together. </p>
<p>Nile steps out of the shadows of the staircase and glancing up from his cup, Nicky greets softly, "Buongiorno." </p>
<p>His intense blue eyes are a bit dimmed with the dull edges of sleep and his tongue is heavy so she assumes that his slip-up into a language she barely knows is accidental and from context clues, she pieces together what he means - <em>good morning, </em>just in Italian and as she nods back at him, she heads towards the coffee pot, <em>hot and full thank you whoever made it</em>, as she considers how to ask him to teach her Italian. It's a pretty language, rolls off his tongue nicely and she expects it could be useful for the new life she is building herself.</p>
<p>Stepping out of the kitchen with a warm cup of coffee, she takes them in. Andy, poised across the table from Nicky with her legs folded up into her chest but still comfortable in the spine, sips her black coffee and stares into the distance as though attempting to wake herself but the bags under her eyes are deep and Nile wonders yet again if she sleeps. Nicky looks at contrast with her, well-slept enough, sipping his coffee - lighter than Andy's, she wonders if he prefers milk or cream but all she could find in their fridge was cream so she assumes - and reading from a leather-bound book, something that looks handwritten and careful with Italian writing inside. </p>
<p>It takes her too long to realize it's a bible. </p>
<p>"You made fun of me for being religious," She starts, settling at the table and looking at Andy but the comment built for both of them, "but he gets a free-pass?" </p>
<p>Andy looks at her as though she's suddenly aware she's there, and then as though she's registering her comment before she says easily, "Nicky isn't the new kid, gets the whole Immortal-thing we do." </p>
<p>"...he knows the cost of religion too." Something shadowy and murky appears in her lake blue eyes and Nile feels something stab her, it's that glimpse of grief in her eyes when she talks about Quynh, it's that brokenness she's seen too many times in her own mother. </p>
<p>Nicky continues to read from his bible as though he doesn't hear them and taking the final sip of his coffee, he leans back in his chair, eyes closed and neck barred as he stares at the ceiling unseeing. He sits there for a moment and she watches with intrigue - it's a weirdly beautiful and intimate affair and when she looks back, Andy's looking at her. </p>
<p>His hum and murmur as he tilts his head back towards them are quiet but she still hears, "Amen." </p>
<p>It makes her stomach stir, drawing up memories of her mother scolding her for not closing her eyes during prayer and even though she hasn't been scolded by either of the older immortals, guilt flushes through her stomach easily. </p>
<p>She expects some type of scolding but Andy's grin she cracks is jagged and almost mean in a way that surprises her, "He answer you, Nicky?" </p>
<p>Nicky's intense and deep eyes stare into the mug he was nursing earlier as his lips twist into a frown and he murmurs, "Non è questo il punto."</p>
<p><em>Oh, so Nicky's English isn't good in the morning</em>, she realizes suddenly but still feels stupidly out of the loop. She had assumed that this would not be an issue and had known by Nicky's still surprisingly thick accent that it could be a roadblock sometimes. Nile knows, though, by the kindness she's usually been shown by the group that she is not purposefully being left out here, that perhaps they all speak Italian and Nicky has just forgotten.</p>
<p>It is early - around 7 am, spurred by her usual military time and whatever motivates them to be up this early - well, whatever motivates Nicky, she doesn't think Andy has slept. She imagines Joe and Booker upstairs asleep - Joe's sleeping-in provides a nicer fantasy than Booker's, who she's sure is alcohol-induced sleeping in but Joe's is brought by proper sleep and warmth and a lover beside him who like he, would die for him, in sheets that still probably smell like his partner.</p>
<p>She becomes aware suddenly of how long it has been since she's even gotten laid. </p>
<p>Nile also becomes aware of how easy it is to feel lonely in comparison to Nicky and Joe - she thinks of the way the others watch them, equally fond and envious. She doesn't blame them, she doesn't think she's ever been so smitten and confused at a couple before, and she's spent a week with them.  </p>
<p>"Good morning!" Joe chirps from the top of the staircase arm swung out dramatically and helpful in alleviating any tension left in the room. She glances back to Nicky to see his face light up, his eyelids fluttering a little more open and the corners of his mouth uplift slightly into a small smile - it's upsettingly adorable how fond they are of each other still. </p>
<p>"Amore mio." Nicky greets and as Joe wanders by to steal Nicky's cup of coffee, his digits run over the gentle press of the bible pages with something akin to acceptance, to reverence and she's reminded as an onslaught of the fact that they had met during the Crusades. It probably is acceptance. </p>
<p>Nicky begins to chortle something to Joe in Italian and her own face must morph into something beyond confused because Joe, finally taking note of the mugs' emptiness, chuckles warmly and clutches Nicky's hand in his own, "Barriera linguistica, habibi." </p>
<p>His long lashes flicker over his cheeks a few times, his face morphs into confusion than understanding, "Nile." </p>
<p>She thinks absentmindedly that she likes her name in his accent. </p>
<p>"Nile, I'm so sorry - " He begins, looking genuinely apologetic and she swipes a hand at him, already fond of all of their quirks, </p>
<p>"No problem." She winks, a gesture to the air between Joe and Nicky before saying, "You'll have to teach me so I can keep up." </p>
<p>Nicky nods. </p>
<p>Booker comes downstairs and the air grows less light than it was - Andy's eyes are sadder than she's ever seen them and she says, "Hey, Book. We need to talk." </p>
<p>Nile needs more coffee and maybe a morning run. </p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>despite how i am attempting to learn Italian and am interested in it, all of the Italian is translated from Google Translate and other fic so like, I hope it's accurate??? <br/>let me know what you think and thanks for reading! kudos and comments are appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. the show must go on.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I hate this plan, Andy's phone lights up with the notification and she slaps Nile's hand when she goes to reach for it. </p><p> </p><p> - Joe, Nicky, Nile and Andy clean up the mess in the wake of Booker's exile.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey so this is a plan ripped directly from the comics where I clearly don't understand all of it but Andy seemed to and I think I've pieced it together enough for this! I hope you like it and this chapter is...oddly filled with inside jokes and theories.<br/>Also, this is my, uh, very first time writing from Andy's perspective so please, let me know if you think I should/could change up the perspectives a little or should stick with Nile!<br/>If any of you care to make headcanons, theories or any facts about this, I would love to read them in the comments! Please be nice, though!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Two weeks after the exile of Sebastien "Booker" LeLivre.</p>
</blockquote><p> </p><p><em> I hate this plan, </em>Andy's phone lights up with the notification and she slaps Nile's hand when she goes to reach for it. </p><p>"It's Nicky," she complains as though Andy doesn't know and one of Andy's shoulders move in a shrug before she responds coolly, </p><p>"He knows we have to." </p><p>Fake the deaths, she thinks grimly, make it believable or no one knows to how to buy it. Organized crime is the safest look, it's the one thing that police simultaneously know nothing and everything about. </p><p>Her phone rings with a second notification and, from Nile's face, likely from Nicky as well. She glances at Andy with those curious eyes before taking it gently from the console as though it's hot to the touch. She's scared too, Andy realizes, but she reads Nicky's text out loud with a shaking voice, "<em> one of them - sarah - tried to seduce me to change our minds."  </em></p><p>She laughs wryly, considering a twenty-something girl trying her best on Nicky, who's closest sexual experiment to girls was that time that he, Joe, Andy and Quynh took some pills in Attenborough and spent the next two days going at it - something that still makes him flustered if you bring it up to this day. These girls, these kids, of whom they've stolen the sportscars of are known as "influencers", some type of chance to gain money over doing nothing to her but she isn't the one deciding. She's just the one using it to make sure that whoever is looking for them, is no longer looking for them, they're pawns to tie up the loose ends. </p><p>How lucky for her that some American influencers visited England, which makes her job easier. Americans are louder, she knows from experience. </p><p>Nile snorts as the sound fills the room again and she repeats, "'<em> made it clear Joe and I are married.' </em>Are they actually married?" </p><p>She looks at Nile, confused before asking, "Yeah. According to a few countries." </p><p>"Nicky doesn't wear a ring. Neither does Joe, not on that finger." Nile notes and Andy wonders how much of that is training versus just natural curiosity - it's the first time in a while that Andy realizes she's trained herself to notice every small detail like that as a way to steer clear of endangerment, <em> yet you still hadn't seen Book coming, huh? </em>She thinks miserably. </p><p>She misses him already. </p><p>She shrugs. She hadn't really considered the lack of rings from her boys - after all, everyone who knew them just knew it was Nicky and Joe, Joe and Nicky, in love and inseparable and it was just obvious in the air between them that they were intertwined with one another, souls destined for each other in a way that Nicky absolutely thinks about and Joe will ramble poetically on. She hopes they die together, she knows it's a bitter thing and that <em> if </em> - a big <em> if - </em>she's still alive, losing both would crush her but she can't imagine how the other would break if one of them went first. </p><p>She shrugs again, "Don't need them. You know Joe and Nicky." </p><p>Even Andy doesn't really know what she means by that. Maybe just that Nile has noticed how they are, maybe that Nile knows how it is to love and not need rings, maybe that Nile knows until recently, they weren't allowed to love on paper. Maybe that Andy's thinking about slipping a ring onto Quynh's finger and it feels like she's the one drowning. </p><p>Nile agrees mutely, "Right." </p><p>She wonders if she thinks they do need rings, and then she crashes the car over the bridge and holds onto the feeling of drowning to feel close to her again. Even as Nile drags her out of the car and onto a riverbank, unseen by police who are frantic over the Mustang crashed into the lake, sure they're still inside. </p><p>"It was a nice car." Nile remarks with a fake somberness and it makes her laugh even though her heart and lungs are still full of water. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"It was a stupid risk." Nicky murmurs again and Andy grinds her teeth to refuse stabbing him. <em> She knows </em> , <em> she knows she's mortal now, Nicky, that every time she pulls a stunt like that now she risks it for real.  </em></p><p>She shrugs at him, aiming for apathetic and hitting it like one does a bullseye, "One I was willing to take." </p><p>"One you shouldn't have!" Joe's voice is louder than Nicky's quiet, bubbling concern had been but she knows they were both worried about her. That they both do, as they view her as an older sister and with her death would be a great loss to them but then Nicky's hand is on Joe's arm and he's murmuring assurances to his husband in a mix of Italian and Arabic that all roughly translate to <em> calm down, my love.  </em></p><p>She hopes they die together - can't imagine being torn apart like she and Quynh were for them. </p><p>Nicky's eyes are broken sea, a lake at tide and broken entirely before he says, accent curling around the consonants and kissing the vowels gently, "We were just worried. It was a large risk." </p><p>She hopes his accent never dwindles, she hopes that light never leaves his eyes - she hopes too much when it comes to Nicky and it's all the fault of her heart declaring him the youngest of her little brothers. </p><p>Before - before Booker. </p><p>"It was." She agrees. She strides carefully into their Paris safe house, taking in their yellowing walls and the peeling paint where there had been large rooms and a glass floor in the other home before admitting, "I hate American influencers." </p><p>Andy hears Nile's frown without seeing her when she starts to defend them, "They aren't that bad." </p><p>"Nile," Joe warns, no ill-will towards her in his voice, and she wonders how he and Nicky can scold without sounding cruel. Maybe, she's just roughened herself around the edges too much, "pick your battles." </p><p>"Sarah was nice." Nicky concedes but she knows when it comes to most Americans the Italian feels the same as she does - exhausted and not thrilled due to history and time and time spent in history. </p><p>She snorts, sounding a bit bitter to herself, "She just wanted to fuck you." </p><p>Nicky's frown is almost funny as he protests, "The poor girl just wanted to live - it was sad." </p><p>She laughs again because <em> life is sad, isn't it? Just a broken hope that you don't meet your maker too early and now? Now, she's part of that.  </em></p><p>"I need to get laid soon." She complains, "I've been missing getting pussy." </p><p>Joe laughs and Nicky smiles, shaking his head in exasperation as Nile gapes at her wide-eyed like a child hearing that for the first time. It makes her laugh along with Joe. </p><p>It feels a little warmer, but their names aren't forgotten. No, not ever. </p><p>She misses Booker. </p><p>She misses Quynh. </p><p>She's become a graveyard of abandoning the people she loves. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The news breaks the next morning, discussing how two women stole a sportscar from famous American influencers before plummeting to their deaths the day prior in an act believed to be tied to organized crime. </p><p>She makes the necessary phone call, "You have pictures out well enough that anyone from Merrick will think we're dead?" </p><p>"Good morning to you too, Andromache." James Copley relishes sarcastically on his side of the phone and she refuses the urge to tell him plain and simple to fuck off before he answers properly, maybe sensing her anger towards him, "I did. Anyone who knew you in England has seen the side-profiles and police are no longer looking for Andy, Joe, Nicky, Nile or Booker, according to all the information Merrick's men had." </p><p>He sighs and sounds as though he takes a sip from something before bringing up, lavish amusement in his British accent, "Did you hear there was an explosion in Merrick Industries, destroying one of their labs, over there this morning?" </p><p>"I didn't." She answers honestly but is relieved. She hadn't considered how much evidence all of Joe and Nicky's torture had left behind but knowing Copley did and covered their asses is reassuring. Maybe she's beginning to be okay with letting him live after all. "Thank you, Copley." </p><p>"Tell the others I say good morning," he chirps before continuing, "the new identities should be there soon." </p><p>"Thanks." She says dismissively, hanging up the phone before crushing it under her boot. </p><p>Nile regards her from where she pours her coffee in the kitchen-living room split before commenting demurely, "Girl, we've gotta get you some therapy." </p><p>She doesn't think Nile means just the phone-stomping. </p><p>"Joe and Nicky still in bed?" Andy asks, shifting the topic and Nile nods, pulling a sip from her steaming coffee before starting, </p><p>"Why'd we do...yesterday?" </p><p>Andy won't laugh at her, it would be rude so she frowns and answers, "Stole from the rich, something we've done for eras. Stole from people who will talk the loudest about it means everyone knows and everyone knows we're dead." </p><p>"You and I," Nile starts skeptically, "what about Joe and Nicky?" </p><p>She pretends to consider before boldly starting, "Shooting each other in the heart is a pretty good way to pretend you're dead to some people." </p><p>Nile cringes and she wonders if she's thinking about how easy she would have bought it years ago or if she's thinking about how hard it must have been for Nicky and Joe to shoot each other. </p><p>She knows Joe panics, knows Joe worries one of these times will be the last and she knows Nicky internalizes it but his fear is all there in those storm-blue eyes. She doesn't blame them. She wouldn't have been able to kill Quynh either. </p><p>"And Booker?" She asks, confident despite the way the rest of the Guard has been flinching around his name and Andy has noticed she still seems mad they exiled him. Andy can't blame her, she misses him too. </p><p>"Disappeared." She answers with a sarcastic wave of her hands. </p><p>Nile snorts into her coffee. </p><p>The rest of their breakfast is pretty quiet as they discuss the weather outside, a beautiful bird on a hollow piece of wood dangling out of the safehouse, and new identities for Copley to make them. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hey, i hope you liked this! Once again, I would love to hear headcanons, theories or facts about anything in this chapter or just thoughts in general! I hope you like this and please be nice or I will be sad tbh!<br/>Thank you!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed this and kudos and comments are incredible and appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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